NEW CREATION REALITIES

Philemon 6

 “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”

One of the things that will make your faith strong and productive is when you understand what you are in Christ, that is, understanding your new creation realities. A lack of understanding of this will make you struggle in your faith walk. 

The way you know this is by looking at every Bible verse that has “in Him”, in whom, etc. find these scriptures and confess them over your life. It will build you up faster than anything and make your faith strong. For instance, Colossians 1:27

“Christ in you the hope of glory”.

When you put attention on Scriptures like this, and make them your meditation, your faith cannot but become strong because you begin to see yourself the way God sees you. You also will see circumstances from God’s perspective.

CONFESS UNTIL YOU SEE MANIFESTATION

Phil 2:16 KJV

“Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”

The words, “holding forth” in the literal sense, means to bring into view. It is when you bring the word into the view of the world or the circumstance that it makes a difference. 

How is the word brought into view? The same words “holding forth” in the dictionary, means to “speak at length”. This means, when you speak the word at length you bring the word into view. Do you see that you have to speak at length for the word to come into view? In fact it comes into view by being superimposed upon the situation over which you are speaking the word. But you have to speak at length to achieve this. 

So when people say a few words of confession and they are wondering why nothing happened, this is the reason why. So how long do you have to confess for? Until you receive manifestation.

EXERCISE YOUR FAITH

        Rom 10:17

           “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

        2Th 1:3

   “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;”

Let us look at our passages one more day. Another way to look at the faith that cometh by hearing is to call it head knowledge faith, that is, the faith that is just a head knowledge. This means all the theories about faith is known to such people but that is where it ends. It is in them alright but it has not gone from the head to the heart to make a difference.

        Jas 1:25

   “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

I believe what will make your faith to grow is when you are a doer of the word of faith not just a hearer. A doer of the word of faith is someone who actively engages his or her faith in something. Another way to illustrate this is to liken having faith by hearing to just eating food. 

When you eat food, your body parts receive nutrients and grow properly but when you go to the gym to work out you develop muscles and you can lift weights. You cannot lift weights because you eat good food, you lift weights because you exercise. It is when you use your faith to lift off burdens that it grows.

       Jas 2:14

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?”

There is no profiting in a faith that is not exercised after it cometh. So exercise your faith today! How? Engage it on something, believe God for something. You can believe God for the salvation of somebody you know that is not yet saved, or believe God for some material thing.

DO NOT HAVE FEAR

Romans 14:22(KJV)

“Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God…”

“Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others…”(MSG)

I left off yesterday with this words that you ask yourself, rephrasing our text, “have I faith…” I want to pursue this a bit more. Can you answer this question.” Now don’t get religious on me and think it is pride to say you have faith. 

 No it is not. You better know that you have faith to face the challenges of life before they come at you. So I ask again, “Hast thou faith? You may ask how would I know I have it? Firstly, though faith is a spiritual thing, it is real. You will know if it is there or not. Secondly, you can know by the relationship that you have with God. The message bible renders our text thus: “cultivate your own relationship with God…” When you cultivate a relationship with God, faith rubs off on you. 

Thirdly, your relationship with the word of God in definite areas will birth faith in you in those areas. Lastly, actually exercising faith on a daily basis will keep you in shape faith wise. For instance, if you go to a top athlete like Usain Bolt and ask if he can run a hundred metres dash, he will tell you he can do it anytime. Why because he does things that keep him in shape to do it. Though he might put in extra time for practice for a major race, when such is close by, his body is conditioned already to run a hundred metres dash.

FAITH THAT GROWS

Rom 10:17

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

2Th 1:3

“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;”

We have two statements here that is worth examining lest you think they imply the same thing. They are “faith cometh” and “faith growth”, it is possible for some to think that because faith comes by hearing that it also grows by hearing.

Firstly, the word “cometh by” in the Greek implies where it originates from, that is, your faith originates from, proceeds out of by your hearing. Whereas the word “groweth exceedingly” in the Greek means to increase above the ordinary. So while in Romans 10:17 we get the picture of someone just starting out, in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, we get the picture of something increasing. Now let us look at the meaning of the word grow in the dictionary:

1) (of a living thing) undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically.

› (grow up) progress to maturity or adulthood.

› (grow out of or into) become too large (or large enough) to wear.

2) come into existence and develop.

› (with reference to a plant) germinate or cause to germinate and develop.

3) become larger or greater over time; increase.

› develop or expand (an enterprise or business).

› become increasingly

Some words seem to be occurring over and over again: develop, increase, become larger and greater. So we take it that to grow means to develop, increase in size and to mature. So how do you develop, increase or make your faith larger? Is it just by hearing? No hearing just feeds your faith, but doing or exercising your faith is what will grow it, develop it. So use your faith today.